Fund fact sheets from eight out of the top 10 fund groups by gross sales contain performance data that is six weeks out of date - despite the extreme market turmoil of recent weeks, reports financial technology provider Instinct Studios.
Instinct reviewed 10 factsheets on providers' websites on 10 September 2015 and eight included performance data to 31 July 2015. Only Standard Life Investments UK Equity Growth Fund's (GB00B7J4W502) fact sheet included data to 31 August 2015, while the Fidelity website included online performance data for its UK Smaller Companies Fund (GB00B7VNMB18) updated to 9 September 2015 - rather than a static fact sheet.
Fact sheet performance dates as at 10 September 2015
| Fund | Date of performance figures |
|---|---|
| BlackRock UK | 31-Jul-15 |
| Standard Life Investments UK Equity Growth | 31-Aug-15 |
| M&G UK Growth | 31-Jul-15 |
| Invesco Perpetual High Income | 31-Jul-15 |
| Fidelity UK Smaller Companies | 9-Sep-15 |
| Henderson Cautious Managed | 31-Jul-15 |
| Legal & General UK Equity Income | 31-Jul-15 |
| Schroder Asian Income Fund | 31-Jul-15 |
| Old Mutual UK Equity | 31-Jul-15 |
| Jupiter UK Special Situations | 31-Jul-15 |
Source: Instinct Studios
"As we saw in August this year, a lot can change in investment markets over the course of a few weeks," said Jeremy Mugridge, marketing director at Instinct. "We're all used to accessing real-time digital information from other industries anytime, anywhere, so it is surprising that most investment providers continue to offer static, out-of-date fund data."
However, Jupiter said it provides more up-to-date performance figures on its website, which is also the case with M&G which stated:
"This piece of research refers only to fund performance factsheets which are published monthly - but our clients can access daily pricing and performance data on our funds via our website and through a variety of third-party providers at any time.
"[Fund research company] Morningstar's guidance is that monthly data should not be finalised until working day plus five days at the earliest, due to the settlement time for end-of-the-month trades. We currently publish virtually all of our fund performance factsheets on working day plus 10, by which time we have produced, translated, checked and published over 1,700 factsheets in seven languages for 12 international regions. While this is no small undertaking, we're always looking at ways to improve and reduce this time to publication still further."
Old Mutual Global Investors said its factsheets get updated around business day + 15, meaning that the end of August data will be available shortly. "We have to wait for all the data to be provided and for the information to be verified/complied before we can issue information to investors via the website," said a spokesperson for the company. "We have also communicated regularly with investors during the volatile markets either through web conferences, meetings or by posting market updates to the websites/sending via emails. Fund managers have been in regular meetings with clients and open to discussions during this period."
The Investment Association, which represents UK fund managers, said: "The question over how we can better present fund information and make it easier to understand is one that the industry is exploring very seriously, and we are open to receiving help and input from users of the information, such as advisers, so that we can ensure we are communicating more effectively."
The quality of fund fact sheets varies massively between different providers, a reason being that there is not a legal obligation to provide one so there are no set standards or a uniform format.
But there is fairly comprehensive information on free websites such as Morningstar.co.uk and www.trustnet.com, which provide performance data which runs around the day before, and it is in the same format so you can compare funds to each other accurately.
